A primary use of computers, especially personal computers, is information processing. There are a wide variety of application programs available that "computerize" information processing tasks that were previously performed manually. Once such application program is Microsoft Excel, an accounting program for personal or business use. In application programs such as Microsoft Excel, a worksheet is the primary document used to store and manipulate data. One commonly used type of worksheet is a spreadsheet, which is a two dimensional, rectangular grid of a finite number of columns and rows. The intersection of each column and row is a cell, the basic unit of a worksheet in which a user may enter and store data. The active cell is displayed with a dark border, which indicates that the cell is selected. The next data the user types after selecting a cell will be entered into the selected cell or the next command the user chooses will be applied to the selected cell. If more than one cell is selected, the first cell selected is the active cell.
The ability to manipulate selected portions of data in a worksheet is a common feature of electronic spreadsheet programs. Presently, there are spreadsheet programs which allow a user to select a cell or group of cells and manipulate it in some way, such as moving it to a new location in the worksheet, copying it to a new location in the worksheet, or deleting it. The problem with these prior art systems is that they require a user to go through several time-consuming steps before the cell manipulation is actually carried out.
For example, to move a cell or a group of cells from one location to another in a worksheet using a typical prior art system, a user is required to (1) select the cell or group of cells to be manipulated; (2)delete or "cut" the selected cell or group of cells from the first location using a combination of keys or by selecting the delete or cut command; (3) move the cursor to the new location in the worksheet where the selected cell or group of cells is to be moved; and (4) insert or "paste" the selected cell or group of cells at the new location using a combination of keys or by selecting the insert or paste command. Similar steps are required for copying the contents of a cell or group of cells from one location to another in a document.
In electronic spreadsheet programs such as Microsoft Excel that support mouse operations, a user may select a cell with a mouse by positioning the pointer over a cell and then depressing and releasing a predefined mouse button. A user may select a group of cells with a mouse by positioning the pointer at the beginning of the selection, depressing a predefined mouse button, dragging the pointer to the end of the selection while holding down the mouse button, and then releasing the mouse button. After selection, cut and paste operations such as described above may be performed on the selected cell or cells.
The prior art systems require a user to be familiar with a variety of function keys and edit commands. When a user is making numerous revisions to a worksheet it is inconvenient to have to perform so many steps in order to move or copy cells from one location to another in a worksheet. The user is forced to perform awkward key combinations such as depressing the shift key and the delete key at the same time. No technique is known in the electronic spreadsheet environment for moving or copying cells without going through the time-consuming cut and paste type operations.